Spatial distribution of persistent sites

Abstract

We study the distribution of persistent sites (sites unvisited by particles $A$) in one dimensional $A+A\to\emptyset$ reaction-diffusion model. We define the {\it empty intervals} as the separations between adjacent persistent sites, and study their size distribution $n(k,t)$ as a function of interval length $k$ and time $t$. The decay of persistence is the process of irreversible coalescence of these empty intervals, which we study analytically under the Independent Interval Approximation (IIA). Physical considerations suggest that the asymptotic solution is given by the dynamic scaling form $n(k,t)=s^{-2}f(k/s)$ with the average interval size $s\sim t^{1/2}$. We show under the IIA that the scaling function $f(x)\sim x^{-\tau}$ as $x\to 0$ and decays exponentially at large $x$. The exponent $\tau$ is related to the persistence exponent $\theta$ through the scaling relation $\tau=2(1-\theta)$. We compare these predictions with the results of numerical simulations. We determine the two-point correlation function $C(r,t)$ under the IIA. We find that for $r\ll s$, $C(r,t)\sim r^{-\alpha}$ where $\alpha=2-\tau$, in agreement with our earlier numerical results.